# No es un mal menor (Children & adolescents) — Digest

## 1. Identity & purpose

This is **Tomo 8** of the Colombian Truth Commission's (CEV) final report *Hay Futuro Si Hay Verdad* (Bogotá, August 2022): **"No es un mal menor. Niñas, niños y adolescentes en el conflicto armado"** ("It is not a lesser evil. Girls, boys and adolescents in the armed conflict"). The CEV — the extrajudicial truth-seeking pillar of the 2016 Peace Accord's Integrated System for Peace (alongside the JEP special jurisdiction and the UBPD search unit) — was chaired by Francisco de Roux. This volume, directed by Diana Britto Ruiz with research coordinated by Arturo Charria, makes visible the differentiated experience of **NNA** (*niñas, niños y adolescentes* — girls, boys and adolescents, i.e. minors under 18), a population the report argues was systematically ignored. It is dedicated to "the children, adolescents and youth victims, survivors and their families, witnesses to a war that has marked generations."

The volume rests on **2,744 testimonies** describing violence against minors (yielding **4,014 victims under 18** in the Commission's listening), more than 140 organizational reports, 75 case files, and a joint **JEP-CEV-HRDAG** statistical data-integration project (112 databases from 42 entities). Its method is inductive: a few representative life-stories (Olga María, Juan David, Juana Valentina, María Victoria, Esperanza, Robinson, Sara) thread a chorus of over a hundred voices.

## 2. Central thesis (meaning of "no es un mal menor")

The title attacks the phrase used to **minimize, justify or normalize** violence against minors — calling it a *mal menor* ("lesser evil"), a "collateral damage" (*daño colateral*) or "operational error" (*error operacional*) rather than a crime, a human-rights violation, or a breach of International Humanitarian Law (IHL/DIH). The Commission's counter-thesis: minors were **not incidental but a specific target** of the war. This is proven by *where* the harms occurred — parks, schools and their surroundings, the very spaces of childhood, which were sites of harassment, recruitment and antipersonnel mines despite being IHL-protected civilian goods. The phrase "no es un mal menor" thus functions as a moral correction: nothing that happened to children was a "minor" matter.

Three nested failures of protection structure the argument: (1) minors were left to grow up in **precariedad** (precarity — hunger, malnutrition, no schools, no health, no state except armed force); (2) the conflict then stripped them of autonomy over their own lives; (3) when their rights were violated, restitution either never arrived or was insufficient. The deeper diagnosis is **invisibility** — society barely reacted when the war degraded to the point of attacking its youngest, and the State took decades even to recognize what it means for a minor to experience war.

## 3. Structure

Five sections (*apartados*) plus a conclusion. **(1) Ausencias y orfandades** (absences and orphanhood) — losing parents to homicide, forced disappearance, kidnapping, or to combatancy. **(2) El desplazamiento forzado** (forced displacement) — the flight, journey, arrival, child labor, schooling rupture. **(3) El conflicto armado en la escuela y sus entornos** (the war in the school and its surroundings) — attacks on, occupation and use of educational institutions; mines and attacks during school activities. **(4) Vinculación de NNA por actores armados** (linkage of minors by armed actors) — the volume's analytical core: facilitating factors, recruitment practices, life inside the ranks, utilization by illegal groups and by the security forces, demobilization, impacts. **(5) Romper la cadena de violencias** (breaking the chain of violences) — coping and resistance. It closes with **Afirmaciones de verdad** (truth affirmations/findings), a **Glosario** of coined terms, and references.

## 4. Key findings (recruitment + other violations)

The Commission distinguishes **vinculación** (linkage — any way a minor is made to perform a task or role for an armed actor) into **reclutamiento** (recruitment — joining the ranks/hostilities) and **utilización** (utilization — exploitation without incorporation: messengers, spies, lookouts, drug/weapon transport, informants). Recruitment of minors was **"naturalized and intentional"** (*naturalizada e intencional*) — a rational, deliberate decision by armed groups, not marginal or random. Commanders knew minors were in the ranks; FARC-EP set up *comisiones de reclutamiento* (recruitment commissions) from its 1982 Seventh Conference, and no senior leadership ever built mechanisms to stop, return, or sanction the recruitment of minors — an **omission amounting to consent**.

Other violations documented: **homicide** (including the **La Pica massacre**, Pueblorrico, Antioquia, 2000, where the Army killed six schoolchildren on an outdoor school outing and called it "human error"); **forced disappearance** (Olga María's father, a Unión Patriótica member, disappeared by paramilitaries); **kidnapping** (the **La María** mass kidnapping by the ELN, Cali, 1999, where Juan David was taken at age 11); **antipersonnel mines (MAP) and unexploded ordnance (MUSE)** sown around schools and play areas; **sexual and reproductive violence** against recruited girls; **orphanhood** (orfandad); and **forced displacement** — the most frequent violation, with over 50% of victims under 18.

A signature finding on the **fuerza pública** (security forces): beyond illegal groups, the State itself **utilized** minors (interrogating the demobilized, using them as guides/informants — "*uno les daba su dulcecito*," giving them candy for information — and infiltrating them into guerrillas) and killed recruited minors in military operations. The emblematic case is **Operación Berlín** (Nov 2000–Jan 2001, Fifth Army Brigade, Santander), where the Army knew ≥150 of the FARC-EP Columna Móvil Arturo Ruiz were aged 14–17 (from interrogating the escapee Robinson) and killed minors after they surrendered or raised their hands; of 78 autopsies, **28 were minors**, six with "skull-burst" wounds indicating execution while defenseless; *El Espectador* counted 74 dead recruited minors. President Pastrana decorated 2,944 participants weeks later. Later bombings (Caquetá 2019 — 8 minors, "Operación Atai"; Guaviare 2021 — ~12 minors, whom the Defense Minister called "*máquinas de guerra*," war machines) repeat the pattern despite advance warnings.

## 5. Statistics & data (scale, ages, responsibility shares)

**Documented figures, all minors under 18 (JEP-CEV-HRDAG):**
- **Homicide (1985–2018): 64,084** minors killed.
- **Forced disappearance (1985–2016): 28,192.**
- **Kidnapping (1990–2018): 6,496.**
- **Recruitment (1990–2017): 16,238** documented (11,314 boys / 69.7%; 4,924 girls / 30.3%). **Estimated 27,101–40,828** (a sub-registry of at least ~10,863 cases).
- **Forced displacement (1985–2019): 3,049,527** minors.

**Listening sample:** of 25,908 violence events heard, 4,315 occurred in childhood/adolescence; 4,014 victims under 18 across 2,744 testimonies. By life stage: **niñez (childhood) 58.2%, adolescencia 26.9%, primera infancia 14.9%.** By sex: ~52% male, ~48% female. Top departments: Antioquia (912), Valle del Cauca (580), Cauca (440), Putumayo, Meta, Caquetá.

**Responsibility shares (events in the listening):** Guerrilla **2,787**, Paramilitary **1,589**, Fuerza pública **750**, other armed group 205.

**Recruitment responsibility (documented registries):** FARC-EP **12,038**, paramilitaries **2,038**, ELN **1,391**, multiple 331, other guerrillas 174, **fuerza pública 109**. Estimated, FARC-EP recruited **20,227–31,322** minors — **75–77%** of estimated victims, the principal perpetrator. **43.7% of recruited minors were under 15** (7,101), making that portion a **war crime** under the Rome Statute; under-15 shares were ~45.6% (FARC-EP), ~45.7% (ELN), ~33.4% (paramilitaries).

**Ethnic disproportion:** of 16,238 recruited, 11.1% Indigenous and 8.6% NARP (Black/Afro/Raizal/Palenquero) — 19.7% combined, well above their ~13.7% population share. **Forced disappearance:** paramilitaries 45.7%, FARC-EP 26.8%, State 9.4%. **Orphanhood** has **no official figure** — the Registro Único de Víctimas (RUV) does not even include orphanhood as a category; ICBF registered only 1,161 cases (2011–2021). In the *zona de distensión* (1998–2001 demilitarized zone), estimated recruitment rates reached **904 per 10,000** adolescents (15–18) vs ~9 in the rest of the country — roughly 100×.

## 6. Why children were targeted / mechanisms of recruitment

**Why:** minors were sought because they were judged **"more agile, obedient, manipulable"**, did not question orders, adapted faster, and **cost less** (paramilitary court rulings against Ramiro Vanoy / "Cuco Vanoy" and the Bloque Tolima explicitly cite them as a "very economical and efficient alternative" to adult combatants). Ernesto Báez (Iván Roberto Duque, AUC) put it brutally: "a war is not won with old men… you take a fifteen-year-old, put a uniform on him… he gets himself killed." A **heroic, strong masculinity** ideology made boys "bodies for war" (hence 67.9% of FARC/ELN and **82.1%** of paramilitary recruits were male). Ethnic minors were targeted for **territorial knowledge** and languages, and to **destabilize organized communities** — the ONIC calls it "a practice that destroys Indigenous life and organization."

**Facilitating factors (the Commission's four):** (1) precarity / few options to develop capacities; (2) armed groups controlling territory; (3) families' and society's negligence or inability to protect; (4) State disregard for prevention. Hunger was decisive — of 491 characterized victims, 99% lacked ≥2 food groups, 52% were under-weight/height. De-schooling raised exposure, yet attending school was no protection (87.7% of one sample were studying when recruited). Other facilitators: **intrafamilial violence** (48% of demobilized girls were abused at home; 25.2% cited it as their reason to join, vs 15% of boys), **orphanhood**, **stigmatization** (being branded "guerrillero" by the security forces drove some to join), and **family ties** that naturalized joining (61% had a relative already linked).

**Practices:** (1) **uso de la fuerza** (force) — explicit threats or implicit territorial coercion, including collective recruitment (22% of cases) and quotas ("if a family had several children, it had to give one"); (2) **engaño** (deception) — false promises of pay, study, work, or that they could leave when they wished; minors were even **bought and sold** between groups; (3) **persuasión** (persuasion) — political proselytizing, the seductive *status/power* of weapons (Timochenko admitted FARC policy was to "enamorar" / win over youth); (4) **manipulación sentimental** (sentimental manipulation / "enamoramientos") — affective pressure targeting girls, which the Commission insists is a euphemism masking coercion. The **school and territory as recruitment site**: guerrillas played soccer ("*micro*") with pupils and approached internados (boarding schools) through the fence; paramilitaries pulled up in trucks at polideportivos; churches were targeted and forced to close. Esperanza (recruited at 12 in Puerto Concordia, Meta) was summoned from her boarding school by a miliciano "*de civil*."

## 7. Impacts specific to NNA (developmental, life-project, intergenerational)

Recruitment struck during **formative developmental stages**, truncating identity formation. Inside the ranks minors lost their names (replaced by an *alias* — a "rupture" that weakens identity), endured punishing training and political *adoctrinamiento* ("lavado de cerebro" / brainwashing), and were taught to **obey, dehumanize the enemy, suppress emotion and hide pain**. **Sexual/reproductive violence** was differentiated: forced contraception (IUDs, jadelle, pills, often before menarche) and **forced abortion** — the FARC-EP made abortion obligatory after its 1993 Eighth Conference; of 319 ex-guerrilla women, 90% used contraception, 83% starting at ages 10–18, the method decided by commanders in 72% of cases. Girls faced harassment, rape (often collective and repeated), *matrimonio servil* (servile marriage to commanders), and being used as "*punto móvil*"/bait. Punishments ranged from forced labor to **fusilamiento** (execution). Death came by combat (minors used as human shields and front-line "*escudos*"), illness, suicide, war councils, and military operations.

**Life-project (horizonte de vida):** survivors carry lasting **psychological sequelae** — nightmares, hypervigilance, persecution ideas, guilt, normalized violence as a way of relating ("muerte, muerte, muerte"). They face **stigma and unemployment** as *desvinculados* ("guerrilleros"), re-recruitment pressure, and frustration over a life they never chose. The State still has **no policy, plan or program to recover recruited minors**.

**Intergenerational (transgeneracional):** "the horror passed from parents to descendants as an inherited burden." Children who never lived the events inherit their parents' rage and grief; displaced *campesino* and ethnic communities lose land, traditions and ancestral ties they cannot transmit; despoiled land cannot be bequeathed, widening urban poverty. These impacts are "the hardest to heal, all the more so if the violence continues."

## 8. Representative quotes (2–4 short)

> "It is not a secret that in Colombia [the conflict] has had as its stage the most remote rural zones… More than security, this has meant greater risks and vulnerabilities for girls, boys and adolescents… almost everything that has happened to them has been considered a *mal menor*." — *Afirmaciones de verdad*

> "You take a fifteen-year-old, put a uniform on him, sling two cartridge belts across him and give him a rifle. That boy feels like the most macho of all, that boy gets himself killed…" — Iván Roberto Duque, alias Ernesto Báez, AUC commander.

> "They didn't prepare me in science, in education, in technology, in agriculture — they prepared me to kill!" — Daniel, recruited at 15 by the Bloque Centauros, Casanare.

> "Something I remember with great revulsion is having an [intrauterine] device put in by force, without ever having had sexual contact — that is a rape… it felt like it was tearing my insides apart." — Esperanza, recruited by FARC-EP at age 12.

## 9. Resistance & protection

Coping (**afrontamientos**) and resistance (**resistencias**) took individual and collective forms: life-saving flight (displacement, exile — 327 of the 4,014 went into exile before 18); emotional/spiritual resources (faith, religious communities, **forgiveness** — Esperanza's "perdonar, perdonarme," Tatiana working with ex-combatants), preserving the memory of lost loved ones; and **organized civil/political resistance** — study and work as "ser alguien" (being someone), **art as a political act** of childhood, claiming **truth as a right** ("Allá encontré la verdad"), and **youth mobilization** (the 2019 and 2021 *Paro Nacional* protests, *ollas comunitarias*/communal soup pots, art, women youth leaders). Protection came from **communities, families, teachers, churches and pastors** (who mediated to free recruited minors), Indigenous authorities and the Guardia (Çxhab Wala Kiwe, "Recomponiendo el camino"/harmonization for the Nasa), and civil-society/international organizations (Coalico, Educapaz, Unicef, OIM), convened in the Commission's **Mesa Técnica de Infancia y Juventud**. Minors and youth demand recognition as actors **in the present**, "desdibujando la idea de que son el futuro" — rejecting the cliché that children are merely "the future."

## 10. Recommendations + distinctive coined concepts

**Recommendations (drawn from the *Afirmaciones de verdad*):** include **orphanhood in the RUV** and create a specific reparation program for orphans plus family-reunification strategies; sustain implementation of the 2016 Peace Accord and pursue negotiated exits as the surest way to stop displacement; **recover schools as safe, protected spaces** — relocate any military/police equipment away from educational sites, **unambiguously prohibit cívico-militares campaigns** in and around schools, and bar all armed actors (including the security forces) from teaching; have the State adopt a **proactive (not reactive) stance** to recover recruited minors rather than waiting for negotiations, escapes or family rescue; honor international obligations; and have **society own its corresponsabilidad**, raising its voice both against illegal recruitment and against security-force abuses (interrogations, bombings, treatment of minors as criminals).

**Distinctive coined / glossed terms** (from the Glosario and text):
- **No es un mal menor** — "it is not a lesser evil"; the report's thesis that harms to minors were targeted, not collateral.
- **NNA** — *niñas, niños y adolescentes*; minors under 18, framed as *sujetos de especial protección* (subjects of special protection).
- **Vinculación / reclutamiento / utilización** — linkage (umbrella) split into recruitment (into ranks/hostilities) vs utilization (exploitation without incorporation).
- **Reclutamiento naturalizado e intencional** — recruitment as a naturalized yet deliberate, rational act.
- **Interés superior del niño** — best interest of the child; rights of minors prevail over all others (Art. 44, 1991 Constitution).
- **Protección integral** and **corresponsabilidad** — comprehensive protection owed jointly by family, society and State.
- **Goce efectivo de derechos (GED)** — effective enjoyment of rights.
- **Horizontes de vida** — "life horizons"; flexible life possibilities (vs the more rigid "proyecto de vida").
- **Afrontamientos** and **resistencias** — coping responses and organized/everyday resistance.
- **Ausencia anunciada / ausencia repentina / ausencia inconclusa** — foretold, sudden, and unresolved (disappearance/kidnapping) absence.
- **Manipulación sentimental ("enamoramiento")** — the report renames affective-pressure recruitment to expose it as coercion.
- **Matrimonio servil** and **punto móvil** — servile marriage to commanders; girls used as human "bait."
- **Máquinas de guerra** — "war machines," the official dehumanizing phrase the report condemns.
- **Cadena de violencias** — the "chain of violences" minors suffer in sequence (precarity → displacement → recruitment → new violences), which the resistance section seeks to "break."